Birthdays
by Mekon-chan
Summary: Naruto is feeling depressed on his birthday, so our favorite raven goes to see whats up. Sasunaru FRIENDSHIP! RnR!


**Hi whosoever is reading this! Just to clear things up now, this is just Sasuke x Naruto FRIENDSHIP! NOT boy x boy! I don't write that, just friendship! **

**Well, anyway, Please read and tell me how it is! Also, constructive comments are a BIG help!**

_**Birthdays**_

Naruto sat on top of the Fourth Hokage's head, overlooking his beloved village. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. October 10th. The day he was born. And the day the demon fox attacked the village hidden in the Leaf, sealed inside him, and the Fourth died. The villagers knew this, and used it as an excuse to treat his especially hard on Naruto. That's why he was sitting here, because not many came up here, keeping him safer on the _wonderful_ festival day.

Naruto sighed again. Wasn't your birthday supposed to be a happy day? Naruto thought so, but never knew from experience. He always spent this day alone, since the age of 4. This wasn't good in itself, because he usually ended up brooding over how the village hated him.

At least now he knew why exactly the village hated him, unlike in his younger years. He found out about the Kyuubi about 3 years ago, when the Forbidden scroll was stolen by himself because he was tricked by a traitor **(A.N. I have no idea how to spell his name, so Ill refer to him as 'the traitor.)**. The traitor ended up revealing the truth, but Iruka ensured his that he was only the jailer of the Nine-Tails.

He detected an approaching chakra, a trick Jiriaya taught him on his training trip. He almost growled out loud. Why must people visit him while he's brooding!?

Without turning, he ground out lowly, "Go away," not at all caring who it was.

The person **(A.N. Guess who!)** stopped their approach. _Ha, good._

Naruto waited for a few seconds, willing whoever it was to leave.

…..

But the person stayed where they were.

Naruto huffed angrily. _Why_ cant people just leave him alone _one _day of the year?

"What do you want?" He said, still not knowing who he was talking to, but could really care less at the moment.

He heard faintly someone shift not too far away. Then he heard the familiar bored drawl of his best friend. "You weren't at training today," he stated blandly. _Cah, git_.

"No duh," Naruto replied, sarcasm dripping from his words. He felt more than heard Sasuke step closer.

Sasuke sighed exasperatedly. "Is something wrong, dobe?" he asked, voice still flat, but knowing Sasuke for a while, Naruto could pick up the barest hint of concern.

Naruto silently cursed his friend for being able to see through him so easily. Well, it's not like was trying to hide it really. Aggravated, Naruto says spitefully, "No, nothings wrong, teme."

Now he knew Sasuke knew something was in-fact wrong, but that didn't stop him from denying it.

He saw movement in the edges of his vision as his friend sat by him, graceful as any feline. Naruto had to bite back another growl. _No, no-one can just leave me alone today. No, he _can't_ just drop it. NO, I can't have one day to not be his hyper, cheery self in peace!_

A heavy silence fell over them. Not a comfortable one at that. Naruto was ignoring Sasuke studiously, and Sasuke himself was starting to fidget, even though he claimed to like silence.

Silence wasn't natural around Naruto. He was always talk or blabbering about something. I mean, he _was_ the most unpredictable loudmouthed ninja!

After almost an eternity of uncomfortable silence, Sasuke spoke up. "Naruto?" he began, "Why…. Why are you up here all alone?"

_Why do you care, eh?_

"Why? Because it's the worst day of my friggin' year!" He ended up shouting, having enough and needing to get some of it out of his system.

Sasuke was silent after my outburst… at least for a few moments.

"Worst?" He said unsurely, "but… why? Aren't most people like, celebrating and happy on the day of the festival?"

Naruto sighed angrily again. "Yes, most people are." was his short reply.

Sasuke's brow furrowed slightly.

"But you aren't?"

"Nope."

"And… why is that?"

"…"

Sasuke looked over at the blond boy. Said boy showed no intent to answer the question. Or even that he heard. Sasuke tried again.

"Naruto?"

Nothing. The normally level-headed Uchiha was getting annoyed now. And a _smidge_ worried, though he would never admit that out loud. Heck, no.

"Naruto!" the raven yelled, greatly agitated.

Sasuke grit his teeth when Naruto failed to respond. That's it! His fists balled up tightly. He was going to get answers to why Naruto was acting like this _now_!

"Dang it, Naruto!" he suddenly shouted, startling said ninja, "Tell me what's wrong! And don't give me that 'there's nothing wrong' crap. I know there is! I'm your closest friend, so you can tell me anything. So, out with it."

Sasuke himself was surprised at this sudden shout. But Naruto acting all depressed was seriously worrying in his book, since the boy was cheerful all the time. Something had to be seriously bothering him for him to be so quiet, depressed, and... So… so… un-Naruto!

Of course, Sasuke saw the off days when Naruto's bright grins were a bit dimmer and his laughter was forced. What kind of best friend would he be if he didn't? And now he had a feeling he was going to get to the bottom of why.

Naruto was looking at him, conflict clearly shown in those bottomless blue eyes. He looked down with a semi-resigned sigh, and then blue eyes reconnected with black grudgingly.

"You'd hate me if I told you," he finally said, a deep pain shimmering in his blue orbs.

_Is it really that bad? How could he ever think I would hate him?_

"No matter what it is, I would never hate you," Sasuke promised firmly.

Sasuke watched as Naruto sighed and turned back to look at the celebrating village, reluctance written all over his features. Sasuke hoped he wouldn't stall any longer, he wanted to know that his closest friend was okay, as much as he hated to admit it, even to himself.

"You know the story of the Kyuubi, I presume?" Naruto said suddenly. Sasuke nodded. "How the Fourth killed it? Well, that's not exactly what happened."

"Wha?" was Sasuke's intelligent reply. Hey, give him a break, his best friend is telling him that a fact of history is a lie.

Naruto sighed for the seemingly hundredth time today. "The Fourth didn't kill it. It was sealed inside a human baby. One that was born only a few minutes before actually."

Sasuke was shocked. Slowly pieces started clicking. He had an awful hunch.

"A-and who was that baby?" He stuttered. He mentally berated himself. Uchiha's don't stutter!

Naruto smiled warily. Then he pointed to his own chest with a calloused thumb. "Me. That's why I'm up here. Because the adults of the village know what I told you. And then use it as an excuse to torment me more than usual on my _fabulous_ birthday."

Sasuke's eyes widened. He was the Kyuubi's container? Everything made sense now! That strange chakra, his stamina, strength. But, one thing in Naruto's explanation didn't sit right with Sasuke.

"What do the villagers do to you?" he ground through his teeth.

Naruto turned to look at him, than blinked. After a moment of shocked silence, he burst out laughing. Not his normal laugh, a humorless, dry laugh.

After Naruto had calmed himself down enough, he said disbelievingly, "I just told you I was the Nine-Tails container, and your worried about what the villagers do to me?!"

Now it was Sasuke's turn to blink. He sighed. It seems he would have to explain himself, hmm?

"So? So _what_ if you're the Kyuubi's container? You're _just_ the container. You're still Naruto. I'm just glad you could tell me. Everything makes sense now. Even so, you're no different than before, I just know more about you. You're still my rival, best friend, and future Hokage!"

_Wow. I've never acknowledged anything in my last sentence out loud before. Great…. Stupid dobe, making me show emotion!_

Naruto just gaped. For a whole minute. Sasuke waited patiently, still annoyed at himself for revealing so much to the depressed blond.

Naruto finally came out of his shocked daze. "Y-you….. Y-you don't h-hate me?" he stuttered.

Sasuke's eyes softened. "No," he said softly with a small smile, "I don't hate you."

Naruto's expression changed from shock, to joy. A happy, true smile adorned his face. "Thank you." He said quietly.

Sasuke merely smiled back.

The two teenagers sat and watched the cherry sun dip below the horizon in companionable silence. Soon, they went their separate ways, their bond stronger than ever.

As he walked away, the raven haired boy looked back and whispered:

"Happy Birthday, Naruto."

**Okay, Okay, cheesy ending, I know. Well, any comments you have, I want to hear, good and bad. But please, no flames!**

**~Mekon-chan ^.^**


End file.
